Combination radiation and convection room heater



y 1950 A. F. WEDDERSPOON 2,510,029

COMBINATION RADIATION AND CONVECTION ROOM HEATER Filed Aug. 8, 1947 EVE 277E? Aim/R hwozmpam/ Patented May 30, 1950 COMBINATION RADIATION AND CON- VECTION ROOM HEATER Arthur Wedderspoon, Chicago, 111., assignor to Cole Hot Blast Mfg. 00., Chicago, 111., a corporation oi Illinois Application August 8, 1947, Serial No. 767 ,37

5 Claims.

This invention relates to a heater and more particularly to a portable heater of the type that employs radiation and convection currents as well as a fan to circulate warm air in a room.

Heretofore several portable heating units have been designed and marketed that are arranged to heat the air directly in front of the heating element or directly above the unit. It is obvious that such heat units have a limited field of application since they are effective for heating only a portion of a room and must be directed manually toward the person or area to be warmed. Even the incorporation of a circulating fan will not make these units effective for moving heated air in all directions from the unit.

According to'the general features of this invention there is provided a heater comprising a heating element mounted inside of the lower portion of a housing, the walls of which consist almost wholly of circular directional louvres. An inverted cone is suspended above the heating element to direct radiant heat outwardly through the louvres to warm objects in a circular zone outwardly of the base of the unit. An upright cone is positioned over the inverted cone to direct air discharged from a fan centrally mounted thereabove down over the sides of the upright cone to mix, at the junction of the two cones, with the heated air rising by convection along the surface of the inverted cone. been heated by the heating element, will be blown out of the unit through the directional louvres in a full 360 circle to cause heating of the air in the room in all directions from the unit.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of this invention to provide a heating unit capable of circulating heated air outwardly in all directions from the unit.

Another object of this invention is to provide a heater that makes efficient use of radiant heat and convected heat as well as a circulating fan for heating theroom.

A further object of this invention is to provide a heating unit including an air circulating fan in which the air discharged from the circulating fanis directed away from the heating element so as toprevent interference of the stream of air from the fan with the burning characteristics of the heating element.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a heater unit which may be efficiently used as a cool air circulating unit in warm weather.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description of the em- This air, which has bodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating the heating unit of this invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially :along line II-II-of Figure l, with parts in elevation, particularly showing the inner construction of the unit;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on line III-1IIof Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is an elevational view of a second embodiment of the heating unit of this invention.

As shown On the drawings:

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figures 1 and 2. Reference numeral I!) is a housing comprising a circular cover ortion H secured as by brazing to four' upright tubular legs [2. An upholstered seat i3 may be suitably secured to the cover H to permit the heater unit to be used as an upholstered stool when not in use as a heater, or even when being used'as a heater provided the amount 'of heat given off is suitably controlled.

The wall of the heating unit housing is constructed of vertically spaced circular louvres I4 practically all of which are arranged to direct air downwardly as it leaves the unit. However, two or more louvres, Figure 2, approximately'midway up the wall are arranged to direct air upwardly as it leaves the unit. The louvres, which may suitably be made of sheet metal, are supported at their outer edge by connection, as by brazing, to the legs l2.

A heater element I5 is supported from a bracket 56, approximately centrally in the lionsing H]. In Figure 2, a radiant electric heating element is illustrated, although any type of heater having a luminous element or a luminous flame may be used. If a burner,'such as a gas burner or the oil burner of Figure 4, which has a substantially non-luminous flame is used, it will be advantageous to support, as by a spider member l8, secured to the frame, a perforated disk l9 made of material such as fire [clay or stainless steel, which will become luminous from the heat produced by the burner. A bottom wall comprising a sheet metal disk 30' is supported from the legs [2 below the heating element l5 to protect the floor from too great a degree of heat.

It is therefore evident that both radiant heat and convected. heat will be produced and directed upwardly by the heating element #5. An inverted cone 20 is suspended, as by welding at its outer edge to the legs 12 of the housing, above the heating element with its point centered substantially on the center of the heating element l5. This cone is made of metal or other material which has a bright reflecting surface adapted to direct radiant heat from the luminous heating element out through the louvres to warm by radiation the air surrounding the unit.

The inverted cone 20 also receives the warm air rising from the heating element by convection. This warm air passes up the lateral surface of the inverted cone 2E! and is met by a current of air produced by a fan 22 depending centrally in the housing from the cover member I I. The air current from the fan 22 passes down the surface of an upright cone 24 which is somewhat flatter than the cone 20 but has a base of substantially the same size. The cone 26 may be secured to the legs 12 or may be supported by the cone 26.

When the air currents from the fan 22, passing down the surface of cone 2%, meet the heated air moving upwardly along the cone 29, the heated air will be directed outwardly through the louvres to warm the air in the room in all di rections around the unit.

The downwardly slanted arrangement of the louvres [4 will cause the air to be directed in a substantially conical downward path toward the floor. As this heated air rises it will warm the surrounding air in the room. The loss of heat to the air will retard the rise of the heated air and thus a uniform eficient heating of the room will be obtained.

It is to be particularly noted that the air currents from the fan 22 are directed away from the heater element so that they do not in any way interfere with the combustion of the burner, where a gas or oil burner is used. Likewise, if an electric heating element is used, the air currents from the fan do not impinge on the element and cause cooling thereof.

It is of course obvious that this unit may in warm weather, be used very efiiciently, without energizing the heating element, for circulating the cooler air at the floor level throughout the room.

The heating unit of this invention is portable to the extent that it can be moved from room to room where heat is needed and where it can be connected to a fuel source or an electrical outlet.

The entire heating unit can be constructed to have the appearance of a modern ornamental piece of furniture which will harmonize with modern room furnishings. It is contemplated to construct the legs l2 with a chrome finish and provide an upholstered seat pad 13, thus providing a convenient article of furniture which may be used as a stool when not being used as a heating unit.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied over a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and it is therefore not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon other than as necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A heater comprising a luminous heating element, a reflector surface positioned above said element for directing radiant heat outwardly from the unit in a 360 circular path and means positioned above said reflector surface for circulating air heated by contact with the element.

2. A heater comprising a luminous heating element, and inverted cone-shaped reflector surface having its apex disposed toward said element and centered substantially on the center of said element, an upright cone positioned above said inverted cone in axial alignment therewith and a fan for circulating air heated by contact with the element.

3. A heater comprising a support structure, circular louvres mounted on said support structure, a luminous heating element disposed within said circular louvres, a cone-shaped reflector surface havin its apex disposed downwardly toward said element and centered substantially on the center of said element, an upright cone positioned above said inverted cone in axial alignment therewith and a fan for circulating air which has been heated by contact with said element.

4. A heater comprising a support, circular louvres mounted on said support, a luminous heating element positioned in the lower portion of said support, a inverted cone-shaped reflector surface for directing radiant heat outwardly from the heater in a circular path and for circulating air heated by contact with said element upwardly along said lateral surface of said inverted cone, an upright cone member above said inverted cone, and a fan arranged to direct air down along the surface of said upright cone to mix with the convected air rising along the surface of said inverted cone.

5. A space heater comprising spaced upright supporting members, louvres supported by said members and extending for a full 360, a heating element in the lower portion of the space defined by said louvres, a downwardly convex reflector above said element for reflecting radiant heatdownwardly and outwardly through the lower of said louvres, an upwardly convex member above said reflector and a fan for directing air downwardly against said convex member and outwardly through the upper of said louvres for mixing with heated air rising upwardly along said reflector and passing outwardly through the intermediate of said louvres, said intermediate louvres being directed upwardly and outwardly and the upper and lower louvres being directed downwardly and outwardly.

ARTHUR F. WEDDERSPOON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,749,039 Lincecum Mar. 4, 1930 1,798,290 Winner et al. Mar. 31, 1931 1,979,883 Hynes Nov. 6, 1934 2,353,247 Kuettel July 11, 1944 

